Just diagnosed! Type 2

[Henry1]

Hi everyone
diagnosed a few months ago ,by chance really ! My wife asked me to buy her a monitor
because she is on steroids , it came from Amazon she tried it first was fine , I thought why not try it your self
wow I was high , on the phone to the out of hours doc ,went for blood test ,sure enough type 2
have reduced my blood levels to around 6-8 m with metformin , started to get cold feet so must talk to the doc
when my next blood test is due

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Wow! How amazing @Henry1

Sounds like you have made a great start. I wonder if it might really help you in the long term - who knows how long you might have run those high BGs if you hadn’t checked. it doesn't sound like you were feeling any effects of the raised BG?

 

[Deleted member 33972]

Hi everyone
diagnosed a few months ago ,by chance really ! My wife asked me to buy her a monitor
because she is on steroids , it came from Amazon she tried it first was fine , I thought why not try it your self
wow I was high , on the phone to the out of hours doc ,went for blood test ,sure enough type 2
have reduced my blood levels to around 6-8 m with metformin , started to get cold feet so must talk to the doc
when my next blood test is due

Hi Henry good you found out. I am about 4 months diagnosed without treatment.

 

[Drummer]

@Henry1 The usual timing is about 3 months from diagnosis - though of course the times are not usual at the moment, then 6 months and then at yearly intervals.
Once I had been eating low carb for long enough to be below 8 after meals I stuck to the same foods and my metabolism must have felt happier, as my levels began to sink lower little by little - I was actually under 7 after both the Christmas dinners I had in 2017, so I knew I had it beaten

 

[Henry1]

When I found out I had type 2 I was not really that much over weight I am 6ft and about 13.8 stone before diagnosis
I lost a lot of weight about a stone , the problem is that the weight loss also included a bit of muscle loss in my hamstrings right leg and am on a exercise bike 3 times a day to get the muscle back in my leg ,difficult to walk
have to be very careful, this will take a few months to get right , not happy

 

[Drummer]

When I found out I had type 2 I was not really that much over weight I am 6ft and about 13.8 stone before diagnosis
I lost a lot of weight about a stone , the problem is that the weight loss also included a bit of muscle loss in my hamstrings right leg and am on a exercise bike 3 times a day to get the muscle back in my leg ,difficult to walk
have to be very careful, this will take a few months to get right , not happy

Oh that is not good - do you know why your weight reduced?

 

[Henry1]

one of the side effects of type 2 can be weight loss ,thirst, peeing i had all this in a period of 6 weeks then it went away
with metformin and started to put weight on again

 

[Drummer]

@Henry1 My problem immediately before diagnosis was weight gain - a diet low in fat and high in carbs to reduce cholesterol - which I protested about as every time I was tested my cholesterol had gone up - but that was me doing it wrong - obviously. I was almost spherical in 2016, and so tired.
Now I am much better and stronger/fitter, but find I need new clothes on a regular basis as I shrink down.

 

[rebrascora]

one of the side effects of type 2 can be weight loss ,thirst, peeing i had all this in a period of 6 weeks then it went away
with metformin and started to put weight on again

Actually weight loss is more commonly a symptom of Type 1 diabetes and weight gain tends to be associated with Type 2 at least until dietary changes are made.

Did they do any tests to look at the possibility of Type 1 diabetes? C-peptide and GAD antibody tests?
There is no specific test for Type 2, it is a bit of a guess based on clinical factors and quite a few of us here on the forum were misdiagnosed as Type 2 based on our age and/or perhaps our weight or lifestyle/diet.
Many GPs wrongly believe that Type 1 only exhibits in children and young adults, so if you are middle aged or even a bit older, they assume you are Type 2. What makes it more confusing is that Type 1 in older people often has a slower onset and can initially respond to Type 2 medication and dietary changes, so that makes it appear that the initial diagnosis was correct, but at some point the person's system reaches tipping point and their BG levels start to go higher again.

Your muscle loss is something that most type 1s can relate to. The muscle wastage on my arms and legs was quite shocking and my thighs and forearms just seemed to be shrinking.
If you have unilateral muscle wastage and weakness, you might have something called diabetic amyotrophy which is associated with uncontrolled diabetes. This can occur if you have had high BG levels for extended periods of time. There was a post about it recently where the person had ended up in a wheelchair but is now improving. Can I ask how high your levels were when you first did that test on your wife's new meter?

Have you made any dietary changes since then ie. cut out cakes and biscuits and sweets or just taken the Metformin and seen improvement. Did you get an HbA1c result from the doctor.... this is the blood test which is used to diagnose diabetes. It is usually a number of 48 or higher to get a diabetes diagnosis but can be well into 3 figures if things are seriously awry.